


Dancing in the Dark

by sweatervest



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Domestic Avengers, Flirting, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Post-Avengers (2012), Pre-Relationship, everyone loves Bruce Springstreen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:59:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27363124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweatervest/pseuds/sweatervest
Summary: When he has the Tower to himself, Steve turns up the Bruce Springsteen.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	Dancing in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you find some joy in my highly specific headcanon of "Steve secretly, fiercely loves Bruce Springsteen and 80s hair bands but will never admit this to anyone."
> 
> I'm not sure if anyone will ask this, but I don't think there's harm in saying I didn't pick "Born in the U.S.A." because that doesn't seem like the song Captain America would hear and think "oh hey you know what I’d like to sing and dance to on my night off?"

It’s a rare thing to have the Tower to himself, what with having five roommates and another set of four people who cycle through almost daily. Steve likes the pulse of the Tower and the city below, even if some people look skeptical when he says so. They tell him they figure he would prefer the quiet, what with his background and how loud this century is. Steve smiles politely and changes the subject, because it’s not good manners to bring up Brooklyn tenements or trenches, the stillness that creeps into your bones just before gunfire and shells. 

The hospital had been too quiet when he woke up. Then the ball game. 

When he’s alone in the Tower, though, Steve doesn’t mind it. Tony has an excellent sound system he taught Steve how to use, and there’s _so much_ to fill up the quiet. He makes his way through a few award-winning albums to start and JARVIS helps him find more based on what he likes. Steve guards these discoveries fiercely, savoring the private joy of having something for just himself again.

Tonight is another one of those nights: Nat and Clint on a mission, Bruce at a conference, Thor back on Asgard, and Tony away on a business trip.

“JARVIS?” Steve calls as he walks into the kitchen, tossing aside his button-up shirt in favor of wearing just a t-shirt and jeans while he cooks. 

“Good evening, Captain Rogers. Your usual cooking playlist, I presume?”

“Yes, thank you,” Steve replies. “Volume up.”

“Of course, sir.”

The opening synth ripples through the room and Steve drops into a bouncy rock-step, rummaging through the cabinets for ingredients. 

\--

The business trip had been an unmitigated disaster, even with his history, and Tony had barely enough spare critical thinking to hail a taxi and get himself back to the Tower. Most of the team is elsewhere, he knows, so it shouldn’t be much trouble to get something to eat and retreat to bed with just Steve around. Awkward first meeting aside, Steve was laser-sharp at reading social cues unless you were injured or had probably just invented something that might be A Very Big Problem If It Got Loose. Not that Tony had a lot of experience with the latter. Maybe once, three times, tops.

Still, though, Steve had expected to be alone tonight. Even if there has not been evidence suggesting Steve would bring someone home, Tony is not about to be the man who cockblocked Captain America after 70 years on literal ice.

“Hey, J?” Tony calls as he walks into the elevator. “Does Rogers have any guests this evening?” 

“Welcome home, sir. Captain Rogers opted for an evening in and is upstairs preparing dinner.”

“Is he making enough to share with a regular, non Super Soldier guy?”

“I believe there will be leftovers, yes.”

“Then lead the way, pal.”

\--

The risotto is close to done. Steve hums along to his favorite song on the playlist, stirring in another handful of parmesan and splash of wine. He swings side to side in a low swoop, mimicking the dance moves he’d seen in the music video. It wasn't hard to recognize the dancing wasn't expert, but Steve likes the easy confidence, how everyone seems to know they're being just a little bit silly and that's the joy of it all.

Maybe, Steve supposes, that is the entire point of dancing.

\--

Tony knows, in some distant part of his brain, that he should probably not be here. That this is not something he should be able to see: this private, unshielded part of Steve Rogers. He should walk away and pretend he wasn’t here, look equally surprised when Steve is surprised to see him in the morning. _Oh I just snuck in through the back door,_ he’d say, _didn’t want to interrupt your night away from all of us._

 _There isn’t a backdoor,_ Steve would say, suspicious.

 _Not that you know of,_ Tony would cover and then glide away to the workshop.

That’s what he should do. 

But Tony can’t look away. There’s the long-running joke about Captain America not knowing how to dance, the whole “right partner” banter with Peggy Carter made famous after countless biographies, films, and TV specials in the years following Steve's disappearance. Most people were smart enough to know that meant foxtrot or lindy hop, that Steve didn’t know how to lead a partner around a room—and, well, Tony thinks most people don’t realize the skill of that or how extra careful Steve would have to be in a body still strange for its size and strength. 

Others thought that meant a Super Soldier who was clumsy if the objective was a dance with a pretty girl, not a frontal assault on an enemy base.

Those people were idiots, Tony always thought. You couldn’t watch old footage of Steve from the 40s and think he was clumsy. Hell, you couldn’t watch any footage from the Battle of New York and not realize that. Even the way he took a hit was graceful. 

Now Tony watches Steve toss his head back, sing into the wooden spoon in his hand, and shake his head to a beat only The Boss can play. He can feel the smile on his face, wide and warm. Of course Steve would love Bruce Springsteen. 

Steve catches sight of Tony mid-spin and stops abruptly. “Tony.” 

The music stops, too. Then, Tony is looking at Captain America: straight-backed, serious. 

Steve clears his throat. “I didn’t realize you were here.”

“Change of plans,” Tony says, smoothing over his disappointment. “Should’ve called ahead but…” he shrugs. “Not always thinking ahead after bad deals.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Happens,” Tony tells him. “Smells great, whatever you’re making.”

Steve studies Tony’s face. “Thanks. Mushroom and asparagus risotto.”

“Well. Enjoy.” Tony turns to make his retreat. 

“Wait—Tony.” Steve sighs. “You don’t look like you’ve eaten. Why don’t you join me? It’ll be ready in another few minutes.”

“Think I’ve imposed enough on your alone time, Cap.”

“Tony,” Steve says again, softer around the edges. “I’d really like it if you would join me.”

Tony gives him a long look, searching for any sliver of obligation in Steve’s face. “A few minutes, you said?” 

“Yeah, why?”

Tony tosses his suit jacket over a chair and unpins his cufflinks. “Because, Steve,” Tony informs him in a serious tone, rolling up his sleeves. “You never turn off The Boss when he’s in the middle of a song.”

Steve blinks. Slowly, his face warms to how it was when he was dancing. 

“JARIVS?” Tony calls.

The music kicks on again and Tony dances towards Steve in his best impression of Courteney Cox, pulled from the crowd by a rockstar. He can only just hear Steve’s burst of laughter over the music. Steve’s posture relaxes and he jumps back in, matching Tony step for step. 

They dance until the music fades out and the risotto is ready to be eaten, everything else about who they are and what will still be there tomorrow fading away for just a song or two. 

\--

Later, Tony will insist he had absolutely nothing to do with Steve’s Heart obsession or how any time “Alone” comes on, Steve turns it up and sings along. Off-key.

Tony suspects it’s all an act put on to annoy Clint, who once made the mistake of joking that Steve would obviously hate rock music and the 80s because he had old-man tastes and something about the music being too loud. Even more compelling, if Thor is around and joins Steve, the two of them have no problem harmonizing and trade off who hits the song's one howling high note.

It really is a shame Clint hates the song so much since it’s such a popular one on their communal playlists.

Tony had nothing to do with this and any footage JARVIS might have saying otherwise is stashed away behind a firewall and three security codes, hidden on a drive labeled risotto.

**Author's Note:**

> (And then Steve meets Sam Wilson and flings himself right into Motown, Prince, and Janelle Monáe while running through the entirety of Marvin Gaye's discography.)


End file.
